mARTIAL ARTS THOUGHTs, THEORIES and ramblings

Our Hanbo 3 foot staff training comes from the Kukishinden Ryu school of martial arts. There are several Kata defences against sword and also some defences against a Shoto (short sword) .

Here’s the first two techniques, they’re really similar in application and are fairly simple to learn.

1 Omote Gaeshi

Uke Dai Jodan with the Sword – Steps forward to cut straight down

Tori Musen Muso no kamae (like a walking stick)

Step out to the left and while taking your right foot straight back same time over head strike to the top of Uke right wrist to break the grip on the sword 2 Omote Otoshi

Uke - Dai Jodan with the Sword – Steps forward to cut straight down

Tori - Musen Muso no kamae (like a walking stick)

Step out to the left and swing the Hanbo across the front of your body and around to strike to uke right temple with the bottom of the Hanbo

Now I’ve left out a few key points in both techniques, but if you come along to class and train we can fill in the gaps easily enough.

Hanbo also has a lot of unarmed applications such as Striking, Locks, Chokes and Throws. While the majority of time is spent learning the locks and throws this is only because they take a longer time to learn. In reality striking with the Hanbo (and in general) is always easier to do.

Personally I would rather lock and control an attacker because hitting someone with a stick usually isn’t looked on to well and can do real permanent damage. Locking and Controlling i.e. arresting, is always more a more compassionate approach.